How Integrated Technology for Security Contractors Can Drive Profitability and Enable Growth

Why security management software is worth the spend, part two.

In part one, we covered how using one holistic enterprise-level system can increase efficiency and automation for security contractors. Now we’re moving on to additional reasons why integrated technology for security companies is worth the spend — increased growth and profitability.

Drive profitability and enable growth

The power of shared data in a holistic software system is invaluable. In the security industry where margins are narrow, understanding which jobs are profitable and having a clear financial picture drives better business management. Job costing, a crucial outcome of shared data in one system, gives contractors profitability insight at the job level, enabling smarter decisions that reduce costs, maximize revenue opportunities and enable real, measurable growth.

“One of the big reasons we’ve stayed with WinTeam is the ability to drill down all the way to the source to get the exact information you we need,” said Tracy Ver Mulm, Accounting Manager for Per Mar Security Services, a 2,400-employee security firm headquartered in Davenport, Iowa. “When you have everything in one system, all it takes is one update to automatically give you the most updated financials. That’s huge.”

“We had been using another solution with no integration to financials,” said Dave Pack, who has been the Executive Vice President of Titan Security for the past eight years. Titan is a Chicago-area contractor that schedules more than 54,000 hours per week and manages more than 1,600 security staff. “It was only a scheduling package, and it had nowhere near the level of detail or reporting capabilities that TEAM has.”

Pack points to that shared data as a big benefit for the business while building financial awareness and eliminating silos of information.

“With the benefit of the integrated operational and financial data, we can put the right information into our operators’ hands,” Pack said. “We can have a dialogue about expectations and results on the job level and share that information and data with our clients. It helps increase transparency and provides a sense of ownership.”

There’s no denying that integrated technology is a significant investment, so it needs to pay for itself in efficiency and scalability. Security management software must enable growth and set businesses up for success now and well into the future.

The software system has proven to be a scalable solution that has driven growth for First Alarm Security and Patrol, a California-based firm with 1,600 employees. Through strategic purchasing contracts and organic growth, the company has seen at least 35 percent year-over-year growth without having to increase staff significantly to keep up.

Because Paladin Security Group, Canada’s largest independent security provider, isn’t tied down to inadequate processes, the company has gained the flexibility to expand easily, according to André Albert, Vice President of National Quality Standards and Support at Paladin.

“We’ve been growing exponentially,” said Albert. “Last year for example, we grew our employee count by about 20 percent. And, we expanded into the U.S. so there’s a whole other market.”

“The technology has definitely allowed us to scale more effectively. A lot of our national competitors struggle in Chicago because it is a very unique, customer-focused market,” Pack of Titan Security said. “Each building is unique, so to be able to report operational data, financials and invoices in different ways is important to our clients. Our ability to bill in multiple formats allows us to never say no to clients or prospects. We provide high-touch customer service, so we want to say yes.

“In the Chicago market, there is a lot of activity and opportunities for Titan,” Pack continued. “We have very professional operators, and with a system like TEAM and all its bells and whistles behind us, we can compete with anybody.”